With the recent uprising in Turkey, it seems the social fabric of the country has taken on a new identity and a new language to reflect that, writes Lisa Morrow.

When the protests about Gezi Park began two weeks ago in Istanbul, people were shocked at police actions aimed at a seemingly small group of environmental demonstrators.

As time has passed, I have seen how the numbers of people going to Taksim Square have increased and stayed on, despite the tear gas and the water cannons. But the initial reaction has changed.

Now when I look at the faces of my neighbours and talk to my friends, I see they are resolute and determined, intent on making it clear they want democracy and freedom. In Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Adana and many smaller cities and towns, people are making their voices heard in ways that are as varied as they are creative.

Forms of protest previously seen in Turkey such as public gatherings, protest songs and satire have been linking with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Information is being spread quickly and efficiently combining traditional culture with current technology.

Each night since the police first entered Taksim Square, in neighbourhoods across Istanbul, including my own, the sound of a spoon rhythmically beating a saucepan begins. Within minutes people appear at their windows or on their balconies, holding a pot, frypan or baking tray, sounding their support for the protesters and their frustration with the ruling government. Others flick their apartment lights on and off, blow whistles, or clap their hands while passing cars ceaselessly blast their horns.

At first it was one or two tapping residents per apartment block, but as the protests continued with no sign from Prime Minister Erdoğan that he would listen to the demands for change, the number of people joining the chorus has grown substantially with every night.

Adopting this theme, Kardeş Türkler, a group initially formed to perform Anatolian folksongs, penned the song "Tencere tava havası" (The Sound of Pots and Pans). The YouTube clip for the song features the members of the group playing musical instruments fashioned from common kitchen items. They sing lyrics that tell of a people fed up and wanting change, while at the same time warning the way will be dangerous.

The clip starts with them performing in an Istanbul backstreet and then shows significant images and videos from the first weekend of police action. Finally it moves on to excerpts from a documentary about penguins. This is in reference to CNN Turk showing a documentary about these loveable creatures on the first Saturday night while people were being tear gassed and targeted by water cannons in Taksim square.

As a result, penguins have come to symbolise media censorship in Turkey and there were calls for CNN Turk to be removed from the umbrella of CNN International. More recently, people have been calling the television station to ask them to repeat the documentary, saying they were too busy protesting in Taksim Square to watch it.

With the exception of HALK TV, most other TV channels did not cover the events in Taksim Square in the first few days. They continued with their regular programs including coverage of the 2013 Miss Turkey competition, popular miniseries, and game shows. However, pro-democracy producers of a game show called "Word Game" avoided the apparent ban on covering the protests by writing questions with answers that referred to the Taksim action. Some of the words shown on the screen were Twitter, barricades, gas masks, plexiglass, censor, pepper spray and compassion.

The next day the prime minister said the protests in Taksim Square were the work of a small group of 300 to 500 çapulcu, the Turkish word for looters or plunderers. Rather than this word be taken by protesters as an insult, it quickly came to mean people who supported the protests.

Within a few days of this first mention, there was a comprehensive Wikipedia entry and people added the word çapulcu to their Facebook names. A video appeared showing a Turkish teacher of English explaining the use of the word in English, complete with word forms and conjugations, while friends invited each other to go 'chapulling'. A song titled "Çapulcu musun?" (Are you a looter?) was set to the tune of an older protest song and performed by the Bosphorus University Jazz Choir. Cartoons appeared suggesting that the name be added to the list of approved names for Turkish children, with Çapulcan for a boy and Çapulnaz for a girl.

Cartoons have long been used to protest anything from laws stopping people playing football on grassy areas to the increase in religious schools. Just a few days ago a cartoon appeared depicting the prime minister in a check coat like the one he wore to address his supporters in Ankara shortly after he returned from Algeria. Some commentators claim the change from his usual dark suits to a casual sports jacket was so he would be seen as a man sympathetic to his people. Cartoons showing him with the police and a water cannon truck behind, both decorated in the same pattern of his jacket, were on Facebook within a day. It took the Turkish leader very little time to abandon his new look.

Humour has played a strong part in these protests and there have been some very inventive slants on the very serious issues being raised. Following the first use of tear gas, a poster advertising the Istanbul Jazz Festival as the Istanbul Gaz Festival appeared. On the same theme, photos of tear gas canisters bearing plants began to be circulated. Traditionally poor Turks often use empty olive oil tins for their plants. These photos emphasise the idea of environmental recycling and humorously suggest a positive way tear gas canisters can be put to use. Closer to more conventional types of protest, the number of companies being boycotted for their perceived lack of support for the protesters is growing.

Tourism numbers are down, the stock market has dropped, and no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Yet everyday life continues. People are going out shopping and socialising, going to work, school and university just as they always do. Some of them will have spent every night in Taksim Square as well.

Whatever the outcome of the events occurring in Turkey now, it seems the social fabric of the country has taken on a new identity and a new language to reflect that.

Lisa Morrow is an Australian writer living in Istanbul, Turkey. View her full profile here.

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